yoke sufficed for all the purposes of draught as well as for backing the chariot; and being fixed to the saddle, it kept the horses at the same distance and in the same relative position, and prevented their breaking outwards from the line of draught, a remark which applies equally to the Greek car; and the description given of it by Homer* agrees very * Π. ε, 722. et seq. : “ Ηβη δ' αμφ' οχεεσσι θοως βαλε καμπυλα κυκλα, Where the poet mentions the κυκλα, wheels, with eight spokes; the αξων, axle ; the ιτυς, wooden fellies of the wheel; the επιστωτρα, metal hoops ; the πλημνη, its box or nave; the αντυγες, sides or framework of the car ; ρυμος, the pole, sometimes nine cubits, or 13 ft. in length (Π. ω, 270.), with the ζυγον, yoke, fastened at its extremity ; and the λεπαδνα, or straps over the horse's breast. In another place (Il. ω, 268.) he describes the mode of fixing the yoke to the pole, by a ring passing over a peg at its extremity, and by a strap nine cubits in length, lashed thrice backwards and forwards across a prominent boss in the centre of the yoke, the end of the strap being tied in a knot below: “ Ζυγον • ομφαλόεν . Εκ δ' εφερον ζυγόδεσμον ἁμα ζυγῳ εννεαπηχυ Και το μεν ευ κατέθηκαν εΰξεστῳ επι ῥυμῳ, Πεζη επι πρωτη, επι δε κρικον ἑστορι βαλλον Τρις δ ̓ ἑκατερθεν εδησαν επ' ομφαλον αυταρ επειτα but as this refers to a moveable yoke, taken off the pole when the animals were released, it bears less resemblance to that of the Egyptian chariot than of the plough or cart, as I shall have occasion to remark hereafter, when comparing it with an ox-yoke found by Signor d'Anastasy in a tomb at Thebes. It may not be uninteresting, while examining the subject, to notice the Roman carriages. Besides litters or palanquins, and other modes of conveyance, they had carriages called unarotum, with one wheel, drawn VOL. I. A A nearly with that used by the Egyptians. In order to render this more intelligible, I shall introduce a pair of horses yoked to a chariot according to by slaves; the birotum, and the quatrirodium, with two, and four wheels. The biga was a car with two horses; the triga with three; and the No. 57. An Egyptian car and horses in perspective, designed from a comparison of different sculptures. the rules of European drawing, derived from a comparison of the numerous representations in the sculptures, omitting only their housings and headdress, which may be readily understood in an Egyptian picture. On grand occasions the Egyptian horses were decked with fancy ornaments: a rich striped or checkered housing†, trimmed with a broad border and large pendent tassels, covered the whole body, and two or more feathers inserted in lions' heads, or some other device of gold, formed a crest upon the summit of the head-stall. But this display was confined to the chariots of the monarch, or the military chiefs; and it was thought sufficient, in quadriga with four: we even read of six horses yoked abreast; and Nero once drove a chariot with ten horses at the Olympic games. The twowheeled quadriga was most generally used, and preferred for the circus; the biga was commonly employed in war; it had also two wheels, and contained a warrior and the driver. The pilentum was a carriage principally intended for matrons, when going to the games; it had four wheels, like the rheda, a large travelling coach, and the petorritum, an open town carriage. The essedum was a light swift car, driven in the city, and adopted from the Gauls; and the plaustrum, properly a cart, with two, and occasionally four, wheels, was intended for heavy burdens, though less cumbrous than the four-wheeled carrus, or waggon. The parts of the chariot were the wheels (rota), the body (capsum or ploxemum), the pole (temo), and the yoke (jugum). The nave (modiolus), the fellies (apsides), the spokes (radii), and the metal hoop (canthus), were the parts of the wheel. The yoke was usually of wood, extending over the back of the two horses, of a crooked shape to fit the neck; and it was tied to the pole with leathern thongs, frequently with a pin or ring, as in the Greek and Egyptian cars. Vide Hope's Costumes, plate 271. the harness of other cars, and of the town curricle, to adorn the bridles with rosettes, which resemble, and cannot fail to call to mind, those used in England at the present day. * Blinkers were deemed unnecessary, as in many countries of modern Europe; but a severe bit appears to have been employed by the Egyptians + as by other ancient people §; though, from their mode of representing it, we should rather feel disposed to consider it a sort of snaffle than a curb. The head and upper part of the neck were frequently enveloped in a rich covering similar to the housing, trimmed with a leather fringe; and the bridle, consisting of two cheek pieces, a throat-lash, head-stall, and the forehead and nose straps, though simple, was not unornamental. No instance occurs of Egyptian chariots with more than two horses, nor of any carriage furnished with shafts and drawn by one horse; they therefore resembled those in general use among the early Greeks, as described by Homer||; though the poet occasionally mentions the four-horsed car, answering to the quadriga of the Latins, so * Vide wood-cut, No. 57. + In one or two instances we find something projecting above and at the side of the eyes, which may be intended to represent blinkers. This I conclude from the appearance of their mouths; and a simple bit may be made very severe. Conf. Hor. lib. i. Od. 8. : frequently represented in sculpture and on ancient coins. Those used by contemporary eastern nations, with whom the Egyptians were at war, were not dissimilar in their general form or in the mode of yoking the horses, even if they differed in the number of persons they contained, having usually three instead of the two in Egyptian and Greek cars; as may be seen from an examination of those represented in the paintings of Thebes*, particularly that which is brought with its two unyoked horses, as a present to the Egyptian monarch, by the conquered people of Rot-n-not, and one actually found in Egypt, and now preserved in the museum at Florence, supposed by some to have been taken No. 53. Car and bow, in the collection at Florence (from the great work of Professor Rosellini). The from the Scythians by the Egyptian victors. harness of the Persian chariots figured at Persepolis * Vide wood-cut. + Vide wood-cut, No. 53. b. and plate 4. |